


If you forget me

by Weavery



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Loss of Trust, M/M, More tags will be added as the story progresses, Neko!Dan, Phan Angst, Phan Fluff, Social Injustice
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2018-01-20
Packaged: 2018-12-16 02:12:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11819070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Weavery/pseuds/Weavery
Summary: In a world where nekos are at the bottom of the social classes, Phil lives with a young neko named Dan.The only problem? Phil is oblivious to this neko's past.Getting to know Dan entails discovering information about nekos that's been hidden from the public for years.





	1. I

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first phanfic I post. I hope you like it (:

Phil had adopted a male neko a few weeks back. Well, actually, he got the neko as a birthday present from one of his relatives.

It's been 3 weeks since the first night the neko was brought to Phil's flat and had done a run to the laundry room to hide in fear. It took Phil around 2 hours to get him to come out and go to the living room with him.

Dan was a 16 years old neko, but really anyone who saw him would say he was 14. He still had a pretty young and completely undeveloped face, his big light brown eyes just contributing more to this. Like other nekos, he had a set of fluffy ears and tail that matched his brown curly hair, except that these were more of a matte colour.

It had been difficult for Phil to adapt his daily routine to look after a neko, basically a teenager but, in the end, he got used to the company and it looked like Dan was getting used to Phil too. He no longer ran out of the room whenever Phil entered it or if he was playing with the ball of yarn Phil got him the first night, he would ignore Phil and continue playing instead of stopping and being quiet in his presence.

Now, after 3 weeks, Dan was resting his head on Phil's lap and watched TV while Phil petted his ears and checked his email on his cellphone.

“Hey, Phil,” Dan called but didn't look at him. When he got a hum in response, he continued, “I've never asked before but why did you adopt me?”

Phil lowered his cellphone and stopped caressing the soft fur. He looked down at Dan where he was giving all his attention to the TV programme.

“Well, someone got you for me,” Phil said casually and he saw how Dan's ears flickered a bit. “I had never considered having a neko, to be honest.”

Dan removed himself from Phil's lap and asked, “why?”

To which Phil simply said, “Wasn't interested??”

Now Dan's ears had gone a little bit down and his tail started swaying from side to side in long waves. Phil ignored all this because even though he has been around Dan for three weeks, he still can't comprehend what all these gestures mean as Dan usually has a straight face when all this happens.

Dan got up from the sofa and exited the living room, Phil then heard the shut of a door, which he believed was Dan's room. That was when he figured something was wrong with the boy, as he never shut doors after himself nor did he sleep in his room, always opting for 'his' sofa crease in the living room.

He decided to give him some time, Phil thought. So instead of going after him right then, he went to start preparing dinner for both of them.

Two hours later and a dinner ready, Phil went to call Dan to his room. He knocked twice and called him for dinner; he didn't get an answer. He knocked again and yet no answer.

“Dan? Are you okay?” he asked, raising his voice a little so it would easily go through the door.

He hated to have to do this, but he got closer to the door, trying to pick any sound from the next room. He barely managed to hear something barely audible.

“Excuse me, I'm coming in,” he announced before opening the door and stepping into Dan's room.

At first glance everything was okay, but then he noted the shaking figure laying on the bed and the soft short sobs were now easy to hear. It took Phil a few seconds to process that the neko was crying and it was slightly perturbating for Phil because he never thought he would have to comfort a neko. Nothing in his life had preapared him for this moment. And it might sound dramatic but that's just Phil's mind talking and panicking over something unknown.

Somewhere during Phil's thought process, Dan had sat at the border of the bed with his tail wrapped protectively around his frame. His eyes were puffy and his cheeks a little bit red, probably from trying to stop the tears.

Phil walked closer to him, taking small steps and slowly sat on the border of the bed, trying to face Dan who had looked down quickly, avoiding to make eye contact with Phil.

“Hey, Dan, what's wrong? Why are you like this?” Phil did his best comforting voice he could manage. He didn't want him to be scared like he was his first night in the flat.

But Dan ignored him and only brought his knees up to his chest and buried his face there.

“Hey, don't be like that, Dan. You can tell me anything, you know? I want to help you, “Phil raised a hand and reached to pet Dan on the head, but stopped when he noticed how rigid Dan had gotten when his had came closer to him. “Okay, I won't touch you. But, Dan. You need to tell me what's wrong, I'm worried about you.”

Dan finally met Phil's eyes, and for Phil, that was the first time he had seen some emotion in Dan's eyes and shit they looked so sad. Phil couldn't help but feel extremely bad even though he didn't know what was the reason for all this.

“Dan? Please...”

Dan cleared his throat and mumbled something

“Pardon?”

He cleared his throat again and put his knees down and looking directly at Phil.

“...don't want me...” was all Phil could catch and it was kind of enough to understand where this was going,” I... I like being here...with you, Phil. But-- but, if I...If you don't like me... you c-can call the shelter. I-I would understand.”

Phil had to hold in a breath to keep calm and not start crying with Dan. He didn't quite understand why Dan thought he didn't like him, sure their conversation later didn't paint Phil as the neko-loving no.1 but what he said, Phil reasoned, was nothing Dan should worry about.

So he hugged Dan and Dan got tense for a second and then buried his face in the crook of Phil's neck.

“Silly kitty, what are you even talking about?” He kissed the top of Dan's head and cupped his face, “Dan, if I didn't want you or didn't like you, I wouldn't even let you in the flat.”

Dan tried to smile at that but his sadness was way more prominent than anything else at the moment.

“Look, let's have a dinner, you can calm down and we can talk about this if you want after we're finished, okay?”

He got a small nod as a response and they went to the kitchen. Dan offered to set the table while Phil dished up. They sat down and ate in silence, it wasn't an awkward silence. It was okay.

After dinner, they had gone to the living room so they could talk about what happened earlier.

Dan was sitting across from Phil, playing with the steam coming from his cup of tea. Phil had suggested that he should have one so that he could calm down a little bit more.

“I understand why you'd think I don't like nekos but I don't think that's what got you so upset,” Phil said and prompted Dan to explain.

“Yeah, there's much more to it. I'm sorry--”

“Don't apologise, it's okay.”

“Umm... Well, did the person who got me for you told you anything about me? What did you know from me before I got here?”

Phil raised an eyebrow in confusion. He didn't understand what this had to do with what happened but he still answered truthfully.

“I was worried you'd be noisy and way too active and they said that you were perfect for me because you were quiet and very obedient, that I wouldn't have problems with you.”

“They didn't say anything else?”

Phil shook his head and gave a small shrug as if to say 'sorry'

“It's okay,” Dan sipped at his tea and continued to talk, “before coming here, I was at two shelters; one in Bristol and one here in Manchester. But before that, I had a family.”

Dan went quiet for a second and Phil doubted if he should ask him to continue, but he thought it would be best not to push Dan.

“I was with these humans for 6 years. They got me when I was 9 years old.” A little smile formed on his face at apparently remembering something. “They were a young couple, 20 and 23. Um... I don't know why but, they couldn't have kids so they adopted me. I was so happy, you know? That day.”

He went quiet again, thinking how to continue his story.

“But it wasn't always like that?” Phil inquired, thinking this family had something to do with all this.

Dan shrugged, “Everything was fine for 5 years, they treated me as if I was their own child. I never knew my mother, so it was nice to have one back then. But... a couple of months before my 15th birthday, Julie told me and her husband that she was pregnant. They were so happy...and I was happy too, I thought that it would be nice to have a little brother, silly, right?”

Dan looked at Phil with a bit of embarrassment showing on his face. Phil only smiled awkwardly and waited for Dan to continue

“Anyways, they were going to have a baby and they no longer wanted me, I guess. I tried my best not to be an inconvenience for them; I helped Julie around the house and I was always with her in case she needed anything. There was this one day when I accidentally misplaced something in the kitchen. I...” he stopped and closed his eyes tightly, “I-I can't remember what it was, but it had been dangerous for Julie... so her husband... um... he got angry at me, took me to the bathroom and punished me. It was the first time he ever hit me or even raised his voice at me. I... I think he might have hit me against something because after that night I had trouble remembering things.”

“Did you tell Julie? And, do you think you're okay now, can you remember everything?”

“No. I couldn't tell her, I'd only upset her. I'm okay, I think. I only have trouble remembering things before that night and they are really small parts.” Dan sipped at his tea and realised he had finished it. He put the cup away and rested his body against the sofa. “ Umm... then one night I heard them talking about me, someone had told them that having a young neko around a baby could be dangerous. They were worried I'd do something to Julie so they sent me from Reading back to the shelter in Bristol the next morning.”

“The next morning?! They... they didn't tell you anything?” Phil already hated these people and he didn't even know them!

Dan shrugged again and smiled, “Julie kissed me goodbye and told me it was only temporary and that they would pick me up when the baby was born. I kind of believed her even though I knew it wasn't true.”

Phil remained quiet, taking in Dan's life so far. He knew that nekos had it harder than humans, most of them were bought at auctions for doing housework and other type low-income jobs. Phil knew that that wasn't the only thing they were bought for, prostitution and personal sex slave nekos were something everyone knew about but didn't dare to mention when talking about nekos. Phil remembers hearing one of his classmates in high school saying that he'd rather be dead than to be born a neko, back then Phil didn't understand why. He used to think the hybrids' features were cool.

Dan... Dan had had luck to be with a nice family until then, Phil thought. As bad as it sounds, he was glad that only Dan's trust was damaged and nothing more. Sure, it had given him a heck ton to work with but he didn't mind. He'd help Dan know that he is someone he can trust.

“I'm sorry they lied to you, Dan,” Phil said with honesty and reached to caress Dan's hand briefly.

Dan moved himself to the sofa where Phil was seating and cuddled next to him, resting his head on his shoulder.

“One of the nekos in Bristol liked to pick on me and I got so mad once that I snapped at her, she got scared and fell down on her tail and broke it. She blamed me and then I was sent to the shelter in Manchester. They were told I was dangerous so I spent most of the time in a cage while the others played outside.”

He nudged at Phil's neck with his head and Phil took this as an invitation to hug him so he did. He started to pet Dan's ears and immediately could hear him purring against his chest.

“You really like that, don't you?” Phil chuckled.

“You have no idea how good it feels,” Dan answering with a smile and laughed lightly.

Trying no to break the mood, Phil asked, “is that everything or is there something else I need to know?”

Dan bit his bottom lip and nodded.

“Yeah, that's it. I was only in that shelter for 5 months until you got me out. Thank you, Phil.”

Phil let out a breath he didn't know had been holding in for the last minutes. He was so relieved that Dan hadn't been assaulted in any of the shelters, that was thought that had been bothering him since the beginning of the conversation.

“I did nothing, you don't have to thank me.”

“You haven't thrown me out yet, I'm thankful for that.”

“No 'yets', this is your home now, Dan. Though.... if you don't stop being a control freak you might start living in the laundry room for eternity.”

“But you're so messy!! and hell no! The tiles there are hard and cold, I can't sleep there!!

Phil laughed at Dan's reaction and kissed his head once more. He kept petting Dan's ears until both fell asleep.

 


	2. Little by little

Phil had been busy the past few weeks, barely spending time at home and therefore leaving Dan on his own for long periods.  
  
This situation placed him in a conflicting position; to some extent, he felt bad because he wasn't being a very responsible owner, then he also felt bad for thinking of himself as an 'owner'.  
  
He didn't own Dan (well, legally, he did, it said so on a piece of paper), he didn't like how you could own another life that was just as capable of reasoning as you are.   
  
Unlike an actual dog or cat, Dan could make decisions and look after himself. It was just that, as a Neko, he had many limitations; he couldn't get a proper job or enrol in university on his own, he had to present a letter of permission from his owner, and then it was up to the institution to let him take the entrance test and, of course, there will always be the preference of a human over a neko. They just had...less more rights than the rest.   
  
Once, during the short time they spent together after Phil got back home, he talked to Dan about it and tried to get him to tell him how he felt.  
  
"Are you sure you don't mind being alone all day? I feel bad for leaving you locked inside," Phil said while petting him softly behind his right ear.  
  
"I mean, I know I'm needy but... I can handle being alone for a while," Dan said between purrs. "It's your job, it's not like you can do something about it."  
  
Phil appreciated that. Dan understood the situation and accepted it despite his being clearly uncomfortable. Phil knew Dan was lying when he said he didn't mind, he had opened up a little bit more after Phil found him having a full conversation with himself once.  Dan, very ashamed, explained that it was something he sometimes does when he is alone because that's what he used to do in the shelter when he was locked up and had no one to talk to. 'I'm no longer doing it that often, don't worry, I'm not mental," Dan said at the end.  
  
He also noticed that Dan was smart, like, really, but whenever Phil pointed it out, Dan would deny it and say he didn't know what he was talking about. Phil would even go as far as to ask him to solve short math problems that would take him more than 10 minutes but Dan would solve in less than five without using paper.

"Thanks, Dan. For understanding," Phil patted his head and got up from the sofa, his hand lingering as long as possible to keep petting Dan," I swear everything's going back to normal soon."

Now that his busy week was over and had some time left to run some errands, he remembered that he was supposed to go to the shelter to pick up Dan's new tag (another reason why Dan couldn't just go with him everywhere,  he had to always wear a collar with a tag and be on a leash). He figured he could stop by on his way back.

"Good evening, sir," welcomed him a quite cheerful girl at the front desk.

"Good evening. I'm here to pick a tag. The name's Dan, " Phil said, thinking it would make the job easier for the girl.

After a few clicks and typing, she turned back to Phil. "I'm sorry, Dan is not in the system. Is that his name?"

"Maybe try Daniel?"

She typed in the name and showed a smile.

"Is this one? Daniel Wright?" The girl turned the screen just a little so Phil could see the profile photo.

That was definitely  Dan.

"Yeah... that's him..."Phil said a bit confused.

"Is there a problem?"

"Umm... I don't know if this is normal or..." Phil tried to explain," he's the first neko I've own so I'm not sure..."

"Oh, if you have any doubts about the care of a neko, you know,  heats, vet visits, rights, or the system, I can help you out, Mr. Wright"

Phil thought the girl figured that was his last name and how stupid had been of him not to introduce himself first.

"My name's Philip Lester, not Wright," Phil said, "I think there's been a mistake."

The girl looked confused and uttered a low 'no way', she clicked open Dan's profile and she easily spot the source of the error.

"Oh. His profile was last updated in December, before he got adopted and to legally change his name we need the owner's sign, we can do that now. I can reprint his tag as it came out with his last surname, it'll only take like 10 minutes, would you mind waiting or do you want to come another day?"

"We can do it now."

The girl smiled, opened a document to create a new owner profile and started asking him for personal details needed to build his profile, such as name, date of birth, address, occupation, phone number, e-mail, etc. 

After typing all the information in and printing the page she asked him to sign at the bottom.

"And we want to change the lil'guy's name, right?"She opened now Dan's page and was ready to start typing as Phil talked." What name will you give him now?"

"Uhh... just the surname, leave Daniel. "

She typed it in and saved the changes, "Done. His new ID number is 130-6-992."

Now it was time to wait for Dan's tag to come out. Phil didn't want to seem rude by just turning to his phone and start playing crossy road in silence so he figured he should ask something else to keep her talking.

"Um... you mentioned that there's a system? how does it work?" Phil didn't quite know what to ask about the system, did he even need to know how it worked or what for?

The smile on the girl's face dictated she was more than happy to talk about it as if she never had the opportunity to explain how it worked and why it was so important.

"The system is just how we keep track of every single neko that has been adopted or relocated, it contains information on the neko, pretty much, every detail. Allergies, character traits, blood type, mental health, and family background."

  
At hearing that, Phil thought it would be nice if he got to know more of Dan, you know, to be a more responsible owner. As much as Dan had opened up, Phil knew that he wasn't completely honest with him all the time, there was some stuff that Dan was hiding. It bothered Phil a bit, but he kind of understood; Dan had trusted someone in the past and was betrayed, it will take some time for Dan to fully trust someone again. He couldn't help but ask for a copy of Dan's files.

 *****    ***    ***    ***    ***    ***    ***    ***    ***    ***    ***    ***    ***    ***    ***    ***    ***    ***    ***    *****  

Returning home was always amazing. Usually, he would be so late that the dinner that Dan had prepared would be so cold even when in the oven, but the neko would greet him from the sofa, with his tail swinging from side to side excitedly. This time was different, though. It was six in the evening and he was home, the earliest he had been in weeks.

"I'm home!" Phil shouted from the front door.

He didn't expect to hear what sounded like someone running on wooden floor and he definitely didn't expect to see Dan almost flying down the stairs to engulf him in a tight hug that made them almost fall to the floor.

"You're back!" he shouted with joy against Phil's chest, "you're back! you're back!"

Phil reciprocated the hug by looping his arms around Dan's hips and kissing the top of his head.

"It's nice to see you, too," Phil stepped back a little to see Dan's face but it was a bit hard as  Dan was still clinging to his neck. 

"Why are you here? I haven't prepared dinner yet, I'm sorry.  I can make something quick if you need to go back. I'm sorry I thought you wouldn't be back until-"

"Hey, Dan. Slow down, you're going to run out of breath, "he softly pushed Dan away so he could walk upstairs without a body fixed to his chest, Dan noticed this and stepped out of the way and followed Phil.

They had dinner together for the first time in days. Phil could see that Dan was tapping the table and bouncing his foot against the carpet more than usual and that meant he was excited. Was he really that happy to see him? It kinda made him feel bad but at the same he was also happy to see Dan. After dinner they watched a movie, one that Dan had waited to watch just so he could watch it with Phil. 

They were snuggled up against each other on the sofa when the movie ended and they started to chat.

"Hey, Dan."

"Mmh?"

"Are you really that happy to see me? You've been especially clingy today"

Dan knew that if the lights weren't off, even Phil without his eyeglasses would be able to see how his face turned a shade of red. He scooped away a little, a bit embarrassed.

"I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable. It's just that... you know..."

"Dan, don't be sorry. It's okay, I like to cuddle with you" Phil stretched his arm behind him to turn the lights on and saw Dan with a faint smile on his face," you're cute."

"Shut up."

Phil kept staring at Dan, his gaze travelled down his neck and settled on the worn down black leather collar around it. He reached out to touch it but Dan backed away a little.

"Sorry. Should've asked," Phil said a bit surprised. When Dan got closer again, he didn't try to touch it but instead just said. "It looks itchy a bit too tight on your neck, doesn't it bother you? 

Dan shrugged. He did that a lot when he didn't want to answer how he felt.

"Oh, I got you a new tag today. Now we can go outside more often."

"You did?!" Dan's ears perked up and his eyes were wide open.

Phil nodded and got up. He exited the room and then came back with the small metallic box that contained the tag. He handed it to Dan.

"Can I...?"

"Go ahead. Open it"

Dan smiled and lift the lid open to find a rectangular tag with rounded edges 

_'ID:130-6-992.0_   
_Daniel Lester. '_

Dan looked up at Phil in disbelief and then back to the tag and then back at Phil. Was this real? Was he part of a family again? He looked back at the tag and smiled with joy and a few tears escaped down his cheeks. Phil scooted over to him and hugged him.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I fucked up and some stuff wasn't supposed to be in this chapter but welp.  
> It just made the story unnecessarily longer. 
> 
> I am sorry it took me so long to update.   
> Thanks to everyone who lefts kudos on the first chapter and bookmarked the story. I honestly was expecting this to go unnoticed. Thank you very much.

**Author's Note:**

> English is not my mother language so please excuse my mistakes. I'm trying really hard to make it readable but there is little I can do just on my own.


End file.
